Saturday, August 21, 2010

My sister Jenna and I left for the Missoula Farmer's Market at 6 am with her Impala loaded with gluten-free goodies. Her business partner, Barb, drove separately, so Jenna and I could do some errands after the market. When we arrived at the market in Missoula, it was easy setting up because there was relatively few items compared to a produce stall. The market was fun, but unfortunately for the Gluten-free Maniacs, the focus was more on the produce side, so they didn't sell out. After the market, Barb, Jenna and I had lunch at the Red Robin (decidedly not gluten free, but greasily delicious). Then Jenna and did a few shopping errands and headed back home.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Now comes my favorite part. This is the first time I have ever been in Montana during huckleberry season! Even though I missed blueberries in Minnesota again this year, I had my first ever huckleberry-picking experience.

Dan, Bara, all the kids and I filled the van and drove up Graves Creek road. After a quick visit to the falls, we continued up the mountain. I can't give away our exact, highly secret location, but suffice it to say we hit the mother load of huckleberries. I really thought I was in heaven with all the huckleberries and interesting woodland wildflowers. Dan let all our kids have a chance to "drive" on the forest road, which they thought was pretty fun.

In the afternoon, we returned to the river lot, and spent the hot afternoon swimming in the Clark Fork. After a delicious outdoor dinner of grilled hamburgers, the boys went fishing, while Jenna, Bara, Anna, and I went back to the shop to bake huckleberry muffins. Both ventures went well. We returned to the river lot with our muffins to find that Ethan had caught a huge rainbow trout. A day of huckleberries and trout - how perfectly Montana.